The 2011 World Figure Skating Championships was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2010–11 season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
The competition was originally assigned to Nagano, Japan, and later moved to Tokyo, to be held from March 21–27 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium with the Japan Skating Federation as the host organization. It was postponed in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and later reassigned to Moscow, Russia.
Reaction to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami Immediately following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011, the JSF reported to the ISU that the competition venue was undamaged and the event would be held as planned. However, on March 13, the ISU released a statement saying that it was considering canceling the event and, later that day, the German skating federation announced that it would not send any skaters to the World Championships, with other countries undecided. Although most foreign skaters had planned to fly to Japan from March 16 and later, a few had already arrived in the country on March 11, among them European champion Florent Amodio, and were advised to return home by their skating federations, based on governmental travel advisories.
On March 14, 2011, the ISU published a statement that 2011 Worlds would not be held in Tokyo during the dates originally planned, and that a decision regarding rescheduling or a complete cancellation would be made after further evaluation. The ISU began considering various possibilities, including holding the event in another country. ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta suggested the event could be canceled or postponed until October, with the ISU saying they would make an announcement by March 21. The JSF head, Seiko Hashimoto, said that her federation was hoping to reschedule the event to September or October, but Japanese skating fans felt moving it to another country would be a better option. Although it would oblige a number of skaters to back out of agreements to appear in skating tours, an important source of income for many, many coaches and officials voiced their preference for April–May, citing greater complications arising from an autumn Worlds. However, others noted it would be very difficult for a new host to organize the event in under a month. Typically, a host country of a World Championships has over two years and the shortest period was in 2000 when France organized the event in seven months. On March 21, the ISU announced that the JSF had relinquished its hosting rights and that it was looking into alternate locations, while noting there would be major logistical challenges to organize the event on short notice. The criteriums to bid to hosts the new championships included a new start date in April or May, 700 hotel rooms, a host broadcaster in conditions to produce the event, and two rinks: The main rink to host the competition with a minimum 8000 seats available from the Thursday early morning through Sunday late evening of the following week, and a practice rink from Friday early morning through Friday late evening of the following week. Local expertise, good transportation infrastructure, and quick visa processing were also important factors. ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta said he would support a bid by the Japanese federation to host the 2014 or 2015 World Championships. In June 2011, Japan was chosen as the host country for the next championship with available dates who was the 2014 edition at the same proposed venue in Saitama.
Bids for re-vote On March 22, 2011, the International Skating Union announced that six candidates had applied to host the relocated championships.
Vancouver, Canada Lake Placid or Colorado Springs, United States Moscow, Russia Zagreb, Croatia Turku, Finland Graz, Austria
On March 24, 2011, the ISU announced that Moscow's Megasport Arena had been chosen as the replacement host for the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships.
Competition notes Russia pledged to speed up processing of visas and Vladimir Putin dismissed concerns about the cost of organizing the event on short notice. The country had also accepted hosting duties of the World Pentathlon Championships after political instability caused Egypt to step down. The city of Moscow was expected to spend 200 million rubles (5 million euros or US$7 million) on the event.
2010 bronze medalist Laura Lepistö withdrew in early March due to a back injury and was replaced by Juulia Turkkila. Shawn Sawyer dropped out due to a scheduling conflict and was replaced by Kevin Reynolds, while Myriane Samson withdrew due to a knee injury and was replaced by Amelie Lacoste. Sinead Kerr and John Kerr dropped out to recover from shoulder surgery, and later announced their retirement.
Qualification The event was open to figure skaters from ISU member nations who had reached the age of 15 by July 1, 2010. Based on the results of the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships, each country was allowed between one and three entries per discipline. National associations selected their entries based on their own criteria.
Countries which qualified more than one country per discipline: Spots Men Ladies Pairs Dance 3 2 Great Britain
Due to the large number of competitors, the men's, ladies', and ice dancing competitions required a preliminary round prior to the main competition. The top 12 men and ladies advanced to the short program and the top 10 ice dancing teams advanced to the short dance.
Entries 195 athletes from 44 countries were scheduled to participate.
Country Men Ladies Pairs Ice dancing Sarkis Hayrapetyan Mark Webster Cheltzie Lee Danielle O'Brien / Gregory Merriman Viktor Pfeifer Belinda Schönberger Stina Martini / Severin Kiefer Kira Geil / Tobias Eisenbauer Vitali Luchanok Lubov Bakirova / Mikalai Kamianchuk Lesia Valadzenkava / Vitali Vakunov Jorik Hendrickx Kevin van der Perren Ira Vannut Georgi Kenchadze Hristina Vassileva Alexandra Malakhova / Leri Kenchadze Kristina Tremasova / Dimitar Lichev Patrick Chan Joey Russell Kevin Reynolds Cynthia Phaneuf Amélie Lacoste Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford Kirsten Moore-Towers / Dylan Moscovitch Vanessa Crone / Paul Poirier Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje Song Nan Geng Bingwa Dong Huibo / Wu Yiming Pang Qing / Tong Jian Zhang Yue / Wang Lei Huang Xintong / Zheng Xun Jordan Ju Melinda Wang Michal Březina Tomáš Verner Klára Kadlecová / Petr Bidař Lucie Myslivečková / Matěj Novák Justus Strid Karina Sinding Johnson Katelyn Good / Nikolaj Sorensen Jelena Glebova Natalya Zabiyako / Sergei Kulbach Bela Papp Kiira Korpi Juulia Turkkila Florent Amodio Brian Joubert Maé Bérénice Méité Adeline Canac / Yannick Bonheur Pernelle Carron / Lloyd Jones Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat Elene Gedevanishvili Allison Reed / Otar Japaridze Peter Liebers Sarah Hecken Maylin Hausch / Daniel Wende Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi Great Britain David Richardson Jenna McCorkell Stacey Kemp / David King Penny Coomes / Nicholas Buckland Louise Walden / Owen Edwards Georgia Glastris Harry Hau Yin Lee Tiffany Packard Yu Tigran Vardanjan Viktória Pavuk Dora Turoczi / Balazs Major Zsuzsanna Nagy / Máté Fejes Clara Peters Maxim Shipov Danielle Montalbano / Evgeni Krasnapolski Brooke Frieling / Lionel Rumi Paolo Bacchini Samuel Contesti Carolina Kostner Roberta Rodeghiero Stefania Berton / Ondřej Hotárek Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte Charlene Guignard / Marco Fabbri Takahiko Kozuka Nobunari Oda Daisuke Takahashi Miki Ando Mao Asada Kanako Murakami Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran Cathy Reed / Chris Reed Fleur Maxwell Denis Ten Isabella Tobias / Deividas Stagniūnas Mary Ro Reyes Corenne Bruhns / Benjamin Westenberger Kim Lucine Mericien Venzon Sabina Măriuţă Artur Gachinski Alena Leonova Ksenia Makarova Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov Marina Seeh Dasa Grm Lejeanne Marais Kim Min-seok Kim Yuna Kwak Min-jeong Javier Fernández Sonia Lafuente Sara Hurtado / Adrià Díaz Alexander Majorov Adrian Schultheiss Joshi Helgesson Viktoria Helgesson Mikael Redin Bettina Heim Ramona Elsener / Florian Roost Taryn Jurgensen Kutay Eryoldaş Birce Atabey Anton Kovalevski Irina Movchan Siobhan Heekin-Canedy / Alexander Shakalov Ryan Bradley Richard Dornbush Ross Miner Alissa Czisny Rachael Flatt Amanda Evora / Mark Ladwig Caitlin Yankowskas / John Coughlin Madison Chock / Greg Zuerlein Meryl Davis / Charlie White Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani Misha Ge
Schedule (Moscow time, UTC+4)
Sunday, April 24 Official practices Monday, April 25 14:00 Qualification round: Men Tuesday, April 26 12:00 Qualification round: Ice dancing 15:30 Qualification round: Ladies Wednesday, April 27 13:00 Men's short program 18:30 Pairs short program Thursday, April 28 13:30 Men's free skating 18:30 Pairs free skating Friday, April 29 13:30 Ladies short program 18:30 Short dance Saturday, April 30 13:30 Ladies' free skating 18:30 Free dance Sunday, May 1 14:00 Exhibitions
Results PR: Preliminary round
Men Patrick Chan won the short program with a record score, while Nobunari Oda placed second and defending champion, Daisuke Takahashi, third. Chan also set record free skating and total scores to win his first World title, after previously winning two silvers. Takahiko Kozuka won his first medal at the World Championships, his previous best result being 6th in 2009. Artur Gachinski, the 2010 Junior World bronze medalist, won the bronze medal, becoming the first men's skater to medal at his senior Worlds debut since Evan Lysacek had done so in 2005; both won a bronze medal in Moscow.
In the men's free skating, Brian Joubert slashed his hand on his skate blade and left drops of blood all over the ice; he completed the program but later required medical attention. Also during the free skating, a screw in Daisuke Takahashi's skate came loose on his first jump. He was able to get it repaired and resumed his program within the three minutes allowed. Oda ruined his chances of a medal by doing an extra triple jump, resulting in a loss of 13 points. Florent Amodio used music with lyrics, which is not allowed in competitive skating with the exception of ice dancing. He was not given the normally required one-point penalty because not enough judges voted for it.